Fluorescence techniques have been used to study the interactions of poly(methacrylic acid) (PMAA) with chitosan(CS) in aqueous solution. These studies show that PMAA and CS form complexes within a pH range of 3 to 10 and along with complexing with CS, the conformation of PMAA at pH 4 changed from a hypercoiled to a loose coiled form. However, this conformational change is not complete since the optimal ratio for the complex formation is 0.5:1(CS:PMAA, in residue unit). PMAA/CS complexes at pH 4 were largely disrupted with the addition of NaCl, most likely due to screening of the electrostatic attraction between ionized carboxyl groups of PMAA and protonated amino groups of CS.